Unless a cargo load is adequately secured within its vehicular carrier, motion of the vehicle, especially including acceleration and deacceleration of same, tends to move or shift the cargo with consequent damage to same, and often as well, damage to the carrier. Heretofore, shippers have generally found it necessary to rely on banding, blocking, or bracing to secure the cargo load and provide for its integrity. Such practices, however are not only time-consuming to install and costly, but also rely heavily on individual judgment for their adequacy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,112, issued to Greene et al., relates to a cargo support or retainer which endeavors to avoid banding, blocking, or bracing of palletized cargo loads, by providing a substantially L-shaped frame, wherein the lower horizontal member which contacts the floor is provided with a plurality of "anti-skid" spikes. This device while reasonably effective, has yet been found inadequate for maintaining load integrity under a number of conditions, including when used in truck trailers mounted for piggy-back service on railroad cars. Moreover, the spikes cannot be used on the metal floors which are found in refrigerated trucks and railroad cars; and further, it is found that the mere substitution of rubber pads for the spikes does not solve this problem.
A further cargo restraining device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,645 (Ser. No. 168,670, filed July 11, 1980) issued to the co-inventor herein, James Van Gompel. In this device, an elongated floor contacting member is provided with an upwardly facing load-bearing surface, the member being adapted to project forwardly beneath a portion of the cargo load. A generally upright member is secured to the floor contacting member in spaced relation from the forward end of the floor contacting member for engaging with the cargo load, and a floor piercing element is movably mounted on the floor contacting member adjacent to the rearward end thereof. The floor piercing element is normally disposed to pierce the floor when the floor contacting member of the restraining device is under load in service, and is movable to a position incapable of piercing the floor when the restraining device is out of service. This device is generally not of value with the aforementioned metal floored cars and truck vehicles, as the floor piercing elements either cannot engage the metal surfaces or simply damage same. Moreover, the device is relatively difficult to use; neither does such device positively fix a palletized load with respect to the device itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,559,827 issued to Wittman relates to a freight anti-creeping device including a platform having spikes in its underside for gripping the floor, and a projecting lug on its upper face to which the cargo is wired. This projecting lug requires an opening in the cargo, or else the cargo must be mounted around the lug.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,612 to Baus, relates to a device for shipping boxes, which includes anti-skid plates between the boxes and the floor and clamp bars over the boxes, which are drawn to the floor by rods anchored adajacent the floor, blocks being secured to the boxes for preventing movement between the clamp bars and the boxes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,640 to Acteson relates to a demountable pallet crib having frame members which enclose the perimeter of the pallet and form an open-work frame to enclose the cargo.
Since modern cargo is generally palletized, i.e. placed on a pallet or plate which is conveniently carried by a fork-lift truck and placed on a carrier, it is desirable to reduce the labor required to place the pallet on the floor of the carrier and fix it in position. Thus, banding, blocking, or bracing should be eliminated. Yet, the pallet with its cargo should be restrained from movement while being transported in the carrier --and such a result must also be achieved on the metal floor commonly provided in a refrigerated truck or railway car.
In accordance with the foregoing, it may be regarded as an object of the present invention, to provide a device useful in securing a palletized load within a vehicular carrier against movement such as creeping, shifting, and the like.
It is another object of the invention to simplify the securing of a palletized load in a carrier.
It is still a further object of the invention, to provide a device for securing a palletized load in a carrier, which is simple to use both when fixing a palletized load in position, and when releasing the palletized load when it reaches its destination.
It is yet another object of the invention, to provide a device for securing and releasing a palletized load in a carrier, which requires very little effort to operate.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a device for securing and releasing a palletized load in a carrier, which is simple to construct and easy to operate.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide a device for securing and releasing a palletized load in a carrier of the type intended to refrigerate a load, which carrier is provided with a metal floor with ribs or spaced longitudinally-extending channels which allow cold air to circulate around the cargo.